Prim in the Arena
by district713
Summary: What if Katniss had not volunteered for Prim? This tells the story of Prim if she had been forced into the arena.
1. Chapter 1

The gong sounded. I ran, just like Haymitch told me. I ran for the woods. In the corner of my eye, I saw the bloodbath begin. I tried to push it from my mind, and I raced toward the trees, away from the horrific scene behind me. I ran for as long as I could. As a started to slow down, I heard leaves rustle behind me. My insides locked up, and I froze. Suddenly, I was tackled from behind. I fell to the ground. I'm going to die. I thought. I heard a familiar laugh behind me. "Rory!" I nearly shouted it, before I remembered that we might not be too far from the other tributes. "Hey there, Primmy," he said with that grin of his. He offered his hand, but I got up by myself. We started walking in the opposite direction of the Cornucopia. "What are you doing? You almost scared me to death!" I said, annoyed. Usually I was more patient, especially with Rory. The arena was getting to me. The fear was already driving me insane. "I thought we could be allies. We're already friends," he said with inexplicable cheeriness. He thinks he's going to win, I thought. Doesn't he know? Didn't he see the others – Cato? Marvel? Thresh? We're both doomed, Rory and I. Since I knew that neither of us would win anyway, I saw no harm in making an alliance. At least, maybe I'd die beside my best friend. We spent the rest of that day getting as far from the Cornucopia as we could. I recognized a few plants and berries that were safe to eat, and we gathered as we walked. Rory suggested trying to get meat. "But… I don't want to kill anything," I whispered to him. He looked at me, exasperated. "You're in an arena full of people you're trying to kill, but you'll get squeamish over killing a stupid squirrel?" I didn't say anything. "Oh," he mumbled, realizing that I never planned to kill anyone in the arena. I planned to die, hopefully as quickly and painlessly as possible. This seemed to make Rory uncomfortable, and he looked down and didn't say much for a while. We walked and gathered the berries I knew were safe in silence. We were quickly becoming thirsty, so water became our top priority. It was starting to get dark when I tripped over some roots and fell right into the stream. We drank deeply and decided to make our camp there since we had no way to carry the water. I found a spot hidden well enough in the underbrush that we could be concealed while we slept. Once the sun went down, the arena's temperature plummeted. I tried to fall asleep a few inches from Rory, but my shivers soon became too violent to control, so I scooted closer to him. His warmth was so welcoming that I snuggled into his chest.


	2. Chapter 2

I was almost asleep when the canons started. I'd forgotten about the canons. The bloodbath must have lasted all afternoon and into the night. Shuddering, I sat upright, and saw that next to me, Rory had done the same. He looked like he was concentrating on something. I realized he was counting the canons. He wanted to know how many people had died. Immediately, I knew it was a good thing I had Rory with me because I wouldn't have thought of that before it was too late. When the shots stopped, I turned to Rory. "How many?" I asked. "Eleven." His face was grim. Eleven kids, all dead in one day. I felt sick, and tears started to well up in my eyes. The sobs came quicker and stronger than I'd anticipated, and I could tell it had startled Rory. He put his arm around me and tried to calm me down. "Just try not to think about it. It's just a game," he said, but I shook my head. "I can't… I can't do this," I sputtered through my tears. The fear was building up in my throat. I had to be quiet, before someone heard us, but I couldn't seem to stop. _I'm going to die, _I kept thinking. _We're both going to die._ Rory held me until I became quieter, and we lay back down and tried to sleep. He was sleeping within minutes, but I knew it would be much more difficult for me. I couldn't get images of the bloodbath out of my head. When I heard the anthem being played, I slipped, shivering, from our hidden bushes to a place where I could see the sky. I watched as each dead tribute's picture was shown. I felt awful for each of them. I cried quietly, mourning each of these strangers, for a long time. The sun was beginning to send tiny pink rays into the corner of the sky when I decided to get some rest. I slipped back into the bushes and found Rory still sound asleep. I settled in next to him and let sweet sleep take me out of the arena, for a little while, anyway.

I could tell I hadn't been asleep for long when Rory woke me up. I jolted upright as my current situation flooded back into my memory. The fear and adrenaline raced through my veins. I concentrated on breathing and fighting the tears. That's how it was all day. Gathering food – pick berry, inhale, exhale, don't cry… pick berry, inhale exhale, don't cry. All day I had the same chant going through my head. I wasn't aware of anything else, really, except for the constant choking feeling in the back of my throat. It felt like a large object had lodged itself there.

It was almost noon when I heard rustling in the trees behind me. I think Rory heard it first, because he'd whirled around to investigate before I did. I saw a wisp of dark hair slip behind a tree. It looked like the hair belonged to someone not much taller than I, and probably a girl. That ruled out most of the people I was afraid of. Then, again, I was afraid of all of them. The whole arena scared me.

Rory was a little more courageous. He seemed to have a hunch on who was hiding, so he warily crept closer to the tree. "Who's there?" He said, with a voice that sounded a lot braver than I knew he felt. Suddenly, a face poked out from behind the tree. Rory and I both jumped, but relaxed a little when we realized that this was the girl from 11. She was twelve, like both of us. And I thought the odds were in our favor. She was very timid, and careful with us. She didn't let either of us out of her sight for a second. I knew what she must have thought – two of us, one of her. We could easily take her out if we wanted to. But I didn't want to and I knew Rory didn't really want to either. The difference was, he would kill if he had to. I just wouldn't.

"Rory," he said, extending his hand, after it had become clear that no one was going to start a fight. "Rue," she nearly whispered, taking his hand carefully. They both looked at me. "Prim," I said hoarsely. "Looking for allies?" Rory asked Rue. Her eyes got wide, as if she was shocked he'd even offered. She looked at me again, expecting me to protest. But, again, I knew I was going to die and therefore saw no problem with taking on another ally. In fact, I saw it as a blessing. I really didn't want to die alone.

We all shook hands again, and from then on, Rue was our ally.


End file.
